About ToxicTrailers.com

ToxicTrailers.com was launched after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when the government spent more than $2 billion on FEMA trailers with high levels of formaldehyde that sickened thousands of people. The FEMA trailer tragedy exposed what is a widespread problem in RVs, mobile homes, modular buildings and even conventional buildings that use pressed wood products. Unfortunately, as we approach the tenth anniversary of Katrina, formaldehyde regulations are not being enforced in the U.S., and people's health is at risk. If you are having burning eyes, congestion, sore throat, coughing, breathing difficulties, frequent sinus infections or rashes, and difficulties concentrating, you may have a formaldehyde problem. For questions or to share your story, write 4becky@cox.net.

Monday, August 20, 2007

FEMA camper is finishing me off...

I have been living in a FEMA camper since November 2005 due to Katrina. I had a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra air cleaner running all the time, I keep one window open all the time and hang a blanket over the screen door with the main door open, summer and winter. Things were iffy, I got sick a lot but got over it each time. Now the air cleaner has quit working and I am going downhill quickly. I have a raging sore throat all the time which improves when I am not in here. I'm exhausted all the time. Not just tired, EXHAUSTED. I can't think clearly most of the time. I've had skin rashes galore. My eyes water and burn the entire time I'm in this camper and I wake up with them just about glued shut every morning. My vision has deteriorated considerably since the storm, but I'm not sure if that's from the camper or not. I'm constantly coughing up God knows what kind of pestilence, my sinuses are just shot. I have no money to go to the doctor, so I'm just stuck. My house is still gutted and will probably not be fixed for several more years. The grant program put my well over 90% damaged house at 62% damage and try as I might, I could not make the money cover it all, so I have almost everything I need to fix it, just can't get past the open inspection or pay for labor or continually renewing the permits. With that being the case, I have little hope of getting out of this thing any time soon. The stress of trying to work to pay my bills, take care of the million things you have to do to rebuild a house and being sick all the time is taking its toll. I am alone, there is no one to do any of this but me. This is looking more and more like a no-win situation. What Katrina didn't take at the start, she's getting now, because there isn't enough of me left to take care of it all. I just didn't think she was going to be getting all this government help!

Warning: RVS and mobile homes may be hazardous to your health!!

Imagine that you have just lost your home in a natural disaster, and are now waiting to get a FEMA trailer for temporary housing. The fact is, you and your family might be better off in a tent or living with friends and relatives, even if it is crowded.

After Hurricane Katrina, FEMA purchased about 102,000 travel trailers at a cost of $2.6 billion to house the victims of the nation’s largest natural disaster. It turns out that the vast majority of these trailers have excessive levels of formaldehyde. See the results of testing done by the CDC that were announced Feb. 29, 2008 at the website http://cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/trailerstudy/ or just Google CDC formaldehyde FEMA study. This website also has links to information for residents and health care practitioners.

From the very beginning people who received FEMA trailers after Katrina reported experiencing problems such as irritated eyes, breathing problems, bloody noses, headaches, nausea, frequent respiratory infections and skin rashes. We know one family that moved from the FEMA trailer into a storage shed on their property because their daughter threw up every time she spent any time in the trailer. Another man sleeping in his driveway next to his trailer said, “My FEMA trailer is killing me!” One couple experienced such heavy chest congestion combined with nose bleeds that they abandoned their FEMA trailer to sleep in their truck.

The CDC testing confirmed three earlier rounds of testing done by Sierra Club in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama in 2006 and 2007 with test kits from Advanced Chemical Sensors. Out of 69 tests, 61 were over 0.1 ppm which represents 88 percent of the trailers tested. The tests used 0.1 ppm as the concentration above which health impacts are expected. However, much lower levels are recommended for long-term exposure. The Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR) Minimal Risk Levels are 0.04 ppm for 1-14 days, 0.03 for 14-364 days and 0.008 ppm for 365 or more days exposure. The lowest of the 69 Sierra Club tests was 0.04. The highest test was 0.39.

As you will see by reading the blogs on this page, the formaldehyde problem is not confined to just RVs and mobile homes purchased by FEMA. Manufacturers state that they didn't do anything differently for RVs and mobile homes sold to FEMA than those sold to the general public. People across the country are reporting formaldehyde problems in not just campers and manufactured housing, but regular homes, offices, churches and schools.

For an in-depth look at this issue including how FEMA and the ATSDR tried to coverup the problem rather than respond to a major public health disaster, see the hearing transcript from the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1413.